Alessandro Fortis

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Alessandro Fortis

Alessandro Fortis (born September 16, 1842 in Forlì , † December 4, 1909 in Rome ) was an Italian lawyer , politician. From June 1898 to May 1899 he was Minister of Agriculture in the Pelloux cabinet , from March 28, 1905 to February 8, 1906, President of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister). From March 28 to December 24, 1905, he was also foreign minister, and in his last weeks of office he was also interior minister.

Origin and youth

Since his father died shortly after his birth, Fortis grew up with his very liberal uncle Gaetano Ghinassi from a wealthy Jewish family. He studied philosophy in Rome and then law in Pisa and made the acquaintance of Sidney Sonnino and Cesare Parenzos, who like himself later played an important role in Italian politics. He frequented republican and radical liberal circles of the supporters of Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi . In 1864 he established himself as a lawyer and gradually specialized in political litigation . In the Third Italian War of Independence in 1866 he fought in Garibaldi's Freikorps against the Austrians .

Political career

After an unsuccessful candidacy in 1876, Fortis was first elected to the Italian parliament in 1880. During the election campaign he had promised to work for a reform of the electoral law . Fortis initially worked under Francesco Crispi as Undersecretary of State for the Interior and later worked for the Pelloux government . After leaving this government, he joined the moderate-liberal opposition group Giovanni Giolittis , known as the Historical Left , and supported the governments of Zanadelli and Giolitti (2nd).

On Giolitti's recommendation, he himself became Prime Minister in March 1905. Its most important task was to end a railroad workers' strike that had brought the country's transport system to a near standstill. Fortis' government nationalized the railways, making employees public servants and losing the right to strike.

In September 1905 a severe earthquake struck southern Italy, killing hundreds. Fortis visited the disaster area in the same month and organized aid measures for the reconstruction. In November 1905, on the occasion of the parliamentary deliberation on a trade agreement with Spain , it became apparent that the previous government majority had disintegrated. Fortis resigned in December, was replaced by King Victor Emanuel III. Once again tasked with forming a government, his new, politically diverse cabinet did not gain the confidence of parliament and had to leave office for good at the beginning of February 1906.

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e article "FORTIS, Alessandro" in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Volume 49, 1997., accessed on February 29, 2016
  2. ^ Christopher Duggan: Francesco Crispi. From Nation to Nationalism ; Oxford University Press, 2002; P. 540; here online at books.google, accessed on October 25, 2011.
  3. Christopher Seton-Watson: Italy from Liberalism to Fascism ; Methuen & Co Ltd., 1967, pp. 255 f .; here online at books.google, accessed on October 25, 2011.